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Carmageddon
Carmageddon is the first of a series of graphically violent driving-oriented video games produced by Stainless Games, published by Interplay and SCi and released in 1997 on Windows PC and Macintosh. Gameplay In Carmageddon, the player races a vehicle against a number of other computer controlled competitors in various settings, including city, mine and industrial areas. The player has a certain amount of time to complete each race, but more time may be gained by going through checkpoints, collecting bonuses, damaging the competitors' cars or by running over pedestrians. Races are completed by either completing the course as one would a normal racing game, "wasting" (wrecking) all the opponent racers cars, or running over all pedestrians on the level. The game was notable for its realistic and ground-breaking physics, and for its in-game movie making features. It was also one of the earliest examples of sandbox 3D driving games, and may have influenced other later games including Driver and the Grand Theft Auto series. Three levels of difficulty are available to choose from: * As easy as killing bunnies with axes * Normal everyday carnage * Harder than french kissing a Cobra Plot The intro movie for censored versions of the game had a different voiceover and some alternate footage, in order to justify the presence of zombies as opposed to humans: Development Carmageddon began life in 1994 as a banger-racing game, but it was decided by publishers SCi that a license was needed to ensure success. The rights to a Mad Max video game were sought, but the rights owners could not be found. Development moved on based around a Death Race 2020 license - a sequel to the 1975 cult classic movie Death Race 2000. This brought in the 'running over people' part of the game. Unfortunately the license agreement fell through late in development; In near-final versions of the game, the .exe was still called Deathrace. Stainless decided to press on and create their own IP. Controversy The game was controversial at the time of its release, due to players being able to hit people and animals, and being rewarded for doing so. In many regions the pedestrians were replaced by Zombies with green blood; In Germany they were replaced by Robots with black oil. Downloadable 'Blood Pack' patches were quickly released onto the internet, possibly by Stainless themselves, which would restore the human pedestrians and red blood. Music The game featured a music score version of Fear Factory's album Demanufacture, with the song 'Zero Signal' being used in the opening theme. Legacy Carmageddon spawned two sequels, two expansion packs, two console ports and one handheld port. It also has the dubious title of being a poster child for video game controversy. Expansion pack Carmageddon Splat Pack was the only official expansion pack for Carmageddon, released in 1997. It added several new cars and levels, as well as enabling 3DFX support in Carmageddon. Taglines Europe: 'Drive to survive!' US: 'The Racing Game for the Chemically Imbalanced' External links Edge Magazine's The Making of... Carmageddon Category:Carmageddon games Category:Game Boy Color games Category:Mac OS games Category:PlayStation games Category:Windows PC games